


Someday Out of the Blue

by Jingle



Category: Road to El Dorado (2000), Tangled (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Family, F/M, Family Bonding, Family Drama, Family Fluff, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, M/M, Mother-Son Relationship, Rapunzel plays matchmaker, Work In Progress, parental angst, timeline flubbing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-23
Updated: 2014-03-29
Packaged: 2017-12-09 07:12:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/771463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jingle/pseuds/Jingle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rapunzel and Eugene's child disappeared at the age of seventeen, only to return as an adult with some surprising company. </p><p>DISCONTINUED, despite my best efforts, I cannot find the motivation to return to this story. My apologies to those who expressed interest.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> So, this totally moves around the time-setting of Tangled from the directors' 1700s, but my history friends have never really been much into that, and I follow their example because I know nothing of history. Miguel as Rapunzel and Eugene's child was actually one of their ideas. I've got this lofty project worked out, but only in a bare-bones sense, so updates will be slow but should be happening. We'll start with a prologue, because we have to start somewhere.

No words needed to be exchanged as the Princess and Prince of Corona shifted their newborn child from one set of arms to the other. Eugene held the baby boy carefully and just… Smiled. He’d been so nervous about knowing how to be a father, but for the moment, all those nerves were calmed. How could they not be, looking at such a perfect child?

They named him Miguel; a Spanish name, after the people who had first discovered the land of Corona, though it was quite the hodge-podge of European descent by now.

And apparently, that blonde hair had settled in Rapunzel’s very genes somehow, because when hair came up on Miguel’s head, it was a blonde fuzz. Between that and his green eyes, well…

“He looks just like you,” Eugene half-teased, half-lamented, though he tried to keep that half out of his voice. Rapunzel knew, though. She always knew.

“He looks like you, too,” she assured her husband. “Handsome.”

Eugene smiled at her and reminded himself it didn’t matter, anyway. Miguel was their son, and everything would be perfect. They’d be a loving family, and always together.

Miguel was seventeen when he left home for some adventure. The same age Rapunzel had been, Eugene pointed out. ( _But I was almost **eighteen** , _she protested, initially.) He convinced Rapunzel that it would do him good, and Miguel had always been itching for more of the world, no matter how much of Corona his parents showed him.

He didn’t come back, and Eugene blamed himself, both for running him away and letting him go in the first place. He always was amazed Rapunzel didn’t.

No, Miguel didn’t come back until he was a fully grown adult, accompanied by a man, a woman, and a horse.


	2. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chel, Tulio, and Miguel arrive in Corona, and Miguel's history is revealed to mixed reactions from his friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will all the chapters be this short? It's likely. But the story progresses, slowly but surely. Hope I did okay with the trio.

Miguel and Tulio had always gotten by, no matter how tight things were. Failed cons happened, after all. But with Chel in the picture now… Well, that changed things. It was three people, now, needing food and drink and shelter and clothing. And recently, schemes had a way of going wrong. Chel and Tulio had once been able to read each other so well; they worked together almost as smoothly as Miguel and Tulio did. But now things were just _off_ , and that shook Miguel during a con, and oh, yes, they all knew how to _improvise_ , but…

Something was wrong, and they were suffering for it. The trio was starving, for one thing, and, well, it was the last thing Miguel _wanted_ to do, but one evening Tulio brought up Miguel’s family. The family Miguel had vaguely mentioned leaving when they first met as young men. He asked if they’d be willing to give them a few days to get back on their feet. Miguel had protested plenty, but Tulio had a tendency not to listen when he thought he had a good plan, and eventually the combination of his insistence and Miguel knowing, deep down, that they _did_ need the help won out.

Their destination was attached to the mainland of Spain by a bridge. It was Corona, a small kingdom settled by the Spanish, but now a place where families from all over Europe had lived for several generations. Whenever they stopped by a house, Chel and Tulio were ready to get off of Altivo and meet Miguel’s family, but the blonde would just shake his head and say the horse had been distracted.

He didn’t want to say it was nerves that kept causing him to pull back on the reins. No need  to worry his friends with his own problems.

When they stopped in front of the kingdom’s castle, though, Miguel gave a sigh and a nod. Tulio stared up at the palace from behind Miguel and murmured, “Miguel, what are we doing here?”

“You wanted to go to my family,” Miguel said, forcing a smile and a happy tone.

“And they’re… Servants?” Tulio asked slowly, brows starting to furrow as he tried to wrap his mind around the _other_ solution.

“Well… No, not exactly.”

“You’re a prince!” Chel shouted, jumping off of Altivo and turning Miguel around by the shoulders to face her. “You’re a _prince_! You’re rich!”

“No, I—“

“Why didn’t you ever tell me?” Tulio asked in a low voice that barely concealed anger.

“Who cares? He’s a _prince_!” Chel did a dance.

“No!” Miguel exclaimed. “I’m not! I left this. I didn’t want to sit around and do… Do _nothing_ all my life! I wanted adventure, so I left being a prince behind.”

There was quiet as his friends thought this over. After several minutes, Chel was first to speak. “Hey. I can understand that. But your _parents_ are still royalty, right?”

Miguel shrugged, awkwardly. “My grandparents are the ruling King and Queen. At least, they still were last I heard.” And there was one of those rare pangs of not only guilt, but longing for what he’d left behind.

“So they can set us up with all the gold we’ll ever need!” Chel crowed. “And then we can travel the world; that sounds good, right?” She grinned at Miguel.

“I’m not go—“

“What?” Tulio snapped. “You’re not going to ask them from help because it means you’ll have to stop pretending to be someone you’re not?”

Miguel blinked. That was unexpected, and it hurt. “Tulio, what do you mean?”

“I don’t even know who you are,” Tulio hissed. “You’ve been lying to me for as long as we’ve known each other.”

Chel looked up at Tulio, still seated on the horse. “Tulio, stop it.”

“No! He just—He lied! He tricked me— _us_! How can you be okay with that?”

“Because he’s our _friend_. The fact that he’s related to royalty doesn’t hurt.”

“Tulio,” Miguel said in pained earnest, “if you’d just let me explain…”

But then a white stallion the three _didn’t_ ride in on was running, full speed, right at them.


	3. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One step closer to a family being reunited, and there is no shortage of nerves or tension.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, at long last, here is the next chapter. And it's also short. They will all be, it seems. Sorry for the wait; this story is proving more difficult than expected. I will continue to work on it, but there will be gaps between chapters.

“Maximus!”

A laugh and a smile. Miguel hadn’t wanted to let them out, but having his childhood friend eagerly nuzzle his face and check his pockets for apples made the man forget all the tension, even if he knew it couldn’t last. Chel and Tulio, who had looked alarmed as the stallion charged towards them, were now just confused.

“So he’s always good with horses?” Chel asked, looking from Maximus to Altivo. Tulio shrugged, his bitterness once again coming to the surface. Chel, seeing this in his expression, sighed and rolled her eyes.

Miguel still wasn’t back to that. “Maximus, old boy! You’re still lively as ever!” He reached for the horse’s bridle. “Sit, Maximus… Good boy!”

“Miguel, what’s going on?” Tulio asked impatiently.

“…Right.” And just like that, he remembered there was more to this situation than being reunited with Max. “Maximus, this is Tulio and Chel- Ah, and Altivo, of course. They’re my friends. And guys, this is Maximus, an old friend of mine and Captain of Corona’s Royal Guard.”

Tulio brought a hand to his forehead. “He’s a _horse_.”

“A spectacular horse.” Miguel gave a small smile. After all, without Maximus, neither of his parents would be alive today, and he would never have been born. Tulio just made a disgusted sound; he realized it was pointless to argue the point further.

“Look, I don’t mean to break up a reunion, but,” Chel gestured towards the castle and, her own patience just starting to wear a bit thin, went on, “when are we going to go meet the rich people?”

Miguel steeled himself. He’d come here for a reason. His friends needed help, and no one else was going to give it to a band of three con-artists. This was his plan, and he had to carry it through. “Now. We’ll meet them now.”

The guards at the door recognized Miguel in an instant, and when one ran off to tell his parents, the blonde couldn’t help thinking of his father telling his mother’s story. He remembered, very well, his father speaking of the look on the King and Queen’s face when they saw Rapunzel. It was like they had everything they ever needed, he’d always said. Like they would have given up all they had for that moment.

Guilt twisted in Miguel’s stomach like a dagger.

 

After a moment, the remaining guard tutted and decided it made no sense for the prince to be standing around outside the palace. He led Miguel, and, once the prince explained they were his companions, Chel and Tulio inside, as Maximus nickered for Altivo to follow him.

Queen Rapunzel and King Eugene had not rushed to greet their son. Oh, they both _wanted_ to, and Rapunzel probably would have. She had always been eager. Impulsive, even, since discovering life beyond her tower. But Eugene took pause at the idea of seeing the proof he was a failure of a father. Not only had he let him go, but maybe if he’d been _better_ … Maybe Miguel would have stayed. Or at least come back.

Before now, that is. Eugene had no intention of turning his son away or avoiding him, but to just go out there and… And do what? Act like nothing had happened? The king ran a hand through his hair before he finally noticed his wife looking at him, trying to be patient but unable to hide an expression that pleaded. An expression that said _it’s been so long_. Seeing that, Eugene nodded. It wouldn’t be easy, but his son, who he loved more than anything, was finally home. He would have to focus on that, and not why he had been gone so long in the first place.

Soon, the two parties were on their way to meet.


	4. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A very, very short, but crucial, chapter in the story. The family is finally reunited.

Rapunzel turned the corner and saw Miguel just a moment before Eugene. She couldn’t help moving just a bit faster; between Eugene’s trepidation and her eagerness it was unavoidable. That was when she saw this… Man, yes, a man all grown up. Her eyes started to well up with tears. Nothing that had happened mattered. Those lost years weren’t important. Her son was home.

So were two other people, but that was also unimportant for now.

Rapunzel ran towards Miguel, and when he saw his mother doing that… He didn’t even feel _guilt_. Just a sense of belonging; one he had never realized he could feel in Corona. Like a boy again, he ran into his mother’s arms.

“Oh, Mama. Mama.”

“My Miguel.”

And then there were another pair of arms, stronger arms, around him as well.

“Welcome home, Miguel.”

The three were reunited in a mess of hugging and tears; it was funny how things went full circle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's so short. I wanted this to make a simple sort of impact, though.


End file.
